Jay Z Opens Up About the Importance of Owning Up to Your Mistakes

Once Beyonce dropped the bomb that was Lemonade, fans were quick to decipher her work of art as an expression of her experiences with her husband Jay Z’s cheating and her eventual path to forgiveness. Many of us were quick to take her side and to hate on her spouse.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, the 47-year-old rapper finally alluded to those issues, talking about his marriage and how his wrongdoings were a result of him going into emotional “survival mode.”

The star openly shared that to this day, he attends therapy for his anger and actions: “I grew so much from the experience,” he said. “But I think the most important thing I got is that everything is connected. Every emotion is connected and it comes from somewhere.”

He also specifically discusses what he did, saying that he used to “put on a shell” to protect himself from his pain and insecurities. He says, “You have to survive. So you go into survival mode, and when you go into survival mode what happen? You shut down all emotions. So even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can’t connect. In my case, it’s deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity…”

While what he did is by no means excusable, Jay Z’s willingness to publicly take credit for his mistake is a step towards the right direction.